Precipice of Madness
by Jauneforever
Summary: Captured, experimented on, and tortured after being framed for a attack on Ruby, Jaune Arc is rescued by people disillusioned with the path Cinder is on. Now back at Beacon with a new team can Jaune stop Cinder's plans and more importantly keep his tenuous hold on his remaining sanity.
1. Chapter 1

**This is an idea I had bouncing around in my head for a while. Shout out to Haseoblade-Skyking01 for letting me use his Fallen Arc idea for the base of this story. This is also the story I needed a Team name for and the winner is Team MEAN entered by Karlos1234ify. I own neither Tokyo Ghoul nor RWBY. I do own Shifters though. Jaune's background for this story will be ignored and cold with them, but not hated by the Arc family. Now I know the ages are probably off but in this story Mercury and Emerald are 18 and Neo is 17**

 _Neo's text talk – "Ice Cream"_

 **Chapter 1- Team MEAN's fromation**

 **Jaune's POV**

Pain. That's all I had felt for the past four months ever since that mad woman found me. Things had been going fine for me before then. I had told my friends about my fake transcripts and while they were a bit cold for a while we regained our bond. At least until Crocera Mors went missing. When it was found again it was next to the bloody form of Ruby, leader of Team RWBY and my first friend at Beacon. Someone had beaten her viciously, so much so that her aura had forced her into a coma to deal with the damage. Things went south quickly for me from there.

WBY was out for my blood before an investigation even began, they felt I had hurt her out of jealousy for her high skill at such a young age. My team soon began to believe it as well, I'm not the smartest guy but even I knew to lay low with Yang after my hide. I left Beacon and hiked through the woods, admirably quite stupid since I wasn't given Crocera Mors back as it was evidence, but give me an Ursa over a murderous Yang any day. Seeing this as a sign of guilt WBY and NPR tracked me down and proceeded to attempt to eliminate me.

All I good do was focus on running and dodging until I reached a cliff with a river below it. Before I could even think of another option Pyrrha's spear was buried in my heart. Yang's fist plowed into my back and launched me off the cliff with Pyrrha using her semblance to call her spear back, I had blacked out right before I hit the water. When I came to a week later I soon came to wish I had died.

Cinder Fall, that's the name of the woman that found me. She also admitted to setting up the whole thing with Ruby so she could get ahold of me. My healing factor is quite high and that's what made me valuable to her, a test subject for her pet scientist Kanou to use. He said I should be grateful he saved my life, my heart was destroyed. My aura kept me alive but in order to "save" me they needed to replace it. They used a Shifter's heart to do it.

Shifters are a dangerous species of Grimm, the closest thing to a true form they have is a black ball with two red eyes. Shapeshifters obviously, only the outside changes while the inside stays the same. What makes them so dangerous is their ability to know what form to take for an advantage over their foes, for instance if an opponent is slow yet hard hitting it takes a Beowolf's form for speed or a Deathstalker's form for defense. Only a team of varied skill sets stands a chance of killing one. The heart they put in me has adapted my body, adding a new organ Kanou named Kagune. The Kagune is made of a special kind of cell only Grimm have called Rc cells, now I need to eat Grimm to survive. I tried starving myself once but they forced the food down my mouth. It disgusts me how my taste buds find Grimm delicious now.

The thing moves up and down my spinal cord based on something when I'm shown pictures of opponents. I think that's the Shifter's instinct telling it how to best deal with an opponent, I've tried using it to escape but Kanou uses a sedative he developed for capturing Grimm to calm the Rc cells in me making it useless. Also because my skin is now damm near unbreakable it has to be injected through the eye, hurts like hell. I'm the first to survive the process and only someone with a prior regeneration factor like mine has a chance of surviving. Two months of wave after wave of painful experiments and I'm sent to a guy named Banesaw, a member of the White fang, which Cinder is allied with, for reeducation, AKA torture.

Banesaw is an extremely tall faunus, although I haven't seen his animal characteristic yet, who takes extreme pleasure in torturing me both physically and mentally. He calls me a gold mine because since I have an even greater healing factor capable of regenerating limbs, I hated that experiment the most, he can go all out and not worry about me dying. He rips my fingers and toes off repeatedly, stuffs centipedes down my ear, and uses the weapon which gave him his name, a giant chainsaw, to hack away at me. All the while having me count down from one thousand by sevens in order to keep me sane longer, I tried not doing it once to agitate him. I won't repeat that mistake again. This went on for month and three and a half weeks before he upped his ante.

Kidnapping two teens that were out on a date he forced me to pick who lived and who died, counting down from twenty while cracking his knuckles, a habit he always does when he's torturing me. The male begged me to pick him and save his girlfriend, I obliged him seeing how much he wanted her to live. I should have known Banesaw was lying about one getting out alive, he killed the girl first and then the boy. I swear if I ever get free I'll kill him slowly just for that. I last saw him was about a day ago where he gloated that he would be leading a team to help open a gap in Vale's walls so Grimm could pour through. I could care less about that I'm only worried about Ruby. Did she recover? Will this plan of theirs harm her? Those thoughts race through my head as I'm chained to a chair in the middle of a room.

My own family life sucked, being so weak my relatives had a detached attitude towards me. I was usually just ignored, Ruby was the sister I always wanted. Now I can't help her out of whatever is coming her way. I begin to cry for the first time in months when I hear something, a few seconds later I realize it's fighting. I'm surprised to hear fighting outside the door, brawls aren't common in the Fang due to their military like discipline. Suddenly the door bursts in and a gray themed guy, a red eyed, green haired girl, and another girl with pink, white, and brown hair run in. While the green girl starts breaking my chains the guy starts talking. "Listen no time for long explanations, I'm Mercury, the mute midget is Neo…" the now named Neo kicked Mercury in the leg here, at which a clang is produced "…, and the girl breaking your chains is Emerald. We're here to get you out." This is might be a trap but they're my best shot at escaping. Accepting Neo's help getting up once my chains are broken Mercury then shows me a syringe.

"This should get the sedative out of your system." He moves to inject it in my arm but I stop him. "Not going to work, someone push the plunger for me okay." Not giving him time to question that I grab the syringe and plunge it into my left eye. I don't even feel it, my sense of pain having left long ago. Neo pushes the plunger and I feel the sedative leaving and the Rc cells waking up. Pulling the syringe out I try to walk forward only to nearly fall to the ground if Mercury didn't catch me, Dragging me along they take me towards the air docks of the base we're at, Emerald says they have a bullhead ready to go, I regain the ability to walk halfway back. We reach there with no problem but upon arriving Kanou and about thirty guards are waiting.

"My, my I never expected Cinder's protégés to betray us, and Neo I thought you worked for Roman. Oh well, at least you should make good test subjects. Men subdue with extreme prejudice." I don't give a crap about these three's pasts after what they've done for me and the clear danger they put themselves in. They saved me, now I'll return the favor. I want to tear Kanou apart myself anyway. "You guy's hang back okay, I need to stretch my legs." I can ignore their protests as I walk forward cracking my knuckles like Banesaw does. I can feel my grasp on sanity slip, a thread is really all I have left now. When I speak my voice is higher and has a sadistic edge to it. A burning sensation enters my right eye.

"So which one of you wants to be torn apart first?" With confusion and amusement welling up in them I charge, my kagune moving to my waist and four purple and red tentacles burst out. Before what's happened has registered I've skewered three of them and one has his head completely wrapped up. His screams of fear are intoxicating as I crush his skull. Withdrawing my tentacles a broken laugh escapes my lips, finally some payback for everything. A Fang only slightly smaller than Banesaw wielding a large gauntlet charges me, jumping over him and landing on his shoulders I grab his head and pull until it comes off. Holding the head by the hair I turn towards the remaining guards and speak in a sing-song tone "Pop goes the fang." The remaining guards take a step back. Now that won't do, I haven't finished having fun yet.

The tentacles slip back in and the Kagune moves up between my shoulder blades, from there two wing like appendages with the same color scheme burst forth. Instinct takes over and I feel them harden, looking over my shoulder I see they've crystalized. Following the instinct I turn back to the guards and will the "feathers" of the wings to shoot forth like a Nevermore's. What follows is the rest of the guards painting the concrete a lovely red from the crystals that shoot forth piercing them. More insane laughter leaves me. Now where's Kanou, feeling a tap on the shoulder I turn to see Neo holding Kanou by his collar with him sporting a bloody leg now. Patting Neo on the head with a smile I turn towards Kanou.

"So Kanou, what do you think of your creation now?" A smirk crosses his face and he pulls a trigger out of his coat. "I think more tests are needed." Pushing the trigger before a crystal is buried in his skull a loud roar then reaches us. We all turn to see an Alpha Ursa, twice the size of a normal Alpha, bursts through the doors of a warehouse, one of Kanou's test subject most likely. I force myself to regain my grip on sanity, I can't fall into the cracks with this kind of opponent. "Alright you three I need to know weapons, fighting styles, and semblances to make a plan alright." Their surprised at the change in my voice but start giving me the info I need. Mercury is a kicking version of Yang with cybernetic prosthetics that shoot air blasts and more variety of shots in his gun boots, Emerald uses duel revolver/sickles with a long reach kusarigama mode and a perception manipulation semblance, and Neo has a umbrella with two blades, one in the cane and the other comes out of the tip, along with an illusion and teleportation semblance. A plan is already formed in my head moments after processing this.

"Alright Emerald focus on using your Kusarigama's to bleed this thing and try to shoot it's eyes out, Mercury pour on some heavy fire and if you see an opening try to kick it in the joints, Neo I need you to play decoy since you only have those blades. You don't have to if you don't want to though." A nod from her tells me she'll do it. "Thanks, I'll focus on suppressing fire with these "wings" and I'll move in when I see an opening for the neck. Got it? Two yes's and a nod tell me we're good to go. Emerald flanks the Ursa and uses her weapon to open up some nasty gashes while Neo draws its attention by teleporting in front of it and whacking it on the nose, Mercury runs around it taking pot shots, and I send a barrage of crystals at it. The Ursa focuses completely on Neo and ignores my crystals, Mercury's shots, and Emerald's slashes like I planned. Neo's able to avoid the first couple of blows from the Ursa but takes a charge attack from it when she stumbled on a Fang corpse I left behind. Fear fills me when it rears back to finish her off, I already have a bond with these three and I refuse to lose them.

I feel my aura act in a way I haven't felt before and a white portal opens up under Neo and a second appears next to me followed by Neo who fell through the first. Neo stares up at me with wide eyes while I turn my focus on the Grimm, this must be my semblance and I know just how to use it. Willing portals to appear all around it I open one in front of me and let loose a barrage of crystals into it, ending the Ursa under in the barrage from all sides. Shooting the Crystals must drain my Rc cell supply pretty fast because I drop to one knee and the "wings" go back in. Mercury and Emerald help me up "Get me to the Ursa before it dissolves." Listening to me they help me to the corpse and I begin to feed. I force it down my throat and only stop once I've eaten everything that hasn't dissolved. I turn to see my three allies waiting for me "Thanks for that, I'm going to sleep now." I immediately conk out afterwards having been sleep deprived for the past few months.

When I wake up I'm on a Bullhead and Mercury is watching over me. "Finally up huh?" I nod not feeling the slightest bit of motion sickness, maybe there was a bright side to this after all. "We're headed to Beacon, we need to warn them what's coming. With luck we might be able to give an advanced notice." Panic fills me when I hear where we're headed. "In case you don't know I'm not exactly well liked there, not to mention they think I'm dead." Mercury raises his hands to try and calm me "Don't worry, once that Ruby girl woke up she cleared your name. I heard the aftermath of her learning of her team and yours revenge mission wasn't pretty." I calm down upon hearing that. "Who hurt her?" Mercury asks me to wait and calls into the cockpit telling the girls to activate auto-pilot and come back into the cabin. When they do Emerald ask me why my eye is still changed. "What are you talking about?" Directing me to the bathroom I look in the mirror and see my right eye is black with a pure red iris and no pupil. I'm wearing a black t-shirt and white shorts, both of which are stained with blood. My hair has also turned pure white. I focus on my eye and eventually will the change away. That taken care of I go back to the others and sit down.

Emerald begins "To start with Roman Torchwick was the one to steal your weapon and attack Ruby…" Roman consider yourself living on borrowed time. At this point all three look uneasy "… as for me I joined Cinder in order to get off the streets and when Mercury and I found out about just how far she was willing to go we decided to leave. Neo found out about you and the experiments and brought us in on it when she learned we were planning to leave." I turn to Neo and she pulls out a scroll and begins to type _"I have no problem killing those in my way, but mass slaughter and human experimentation, I refuse to be a part of even if Roman is. As Emerald said I found out they were going to run for it and brought what I found out about you to them. I offered to help them escape if they helped free you, we thought having you as an ally rather than Cinder's weapon was a good idea."_ I nod in understanding and Mercury finishes for them "Personally I joined for a place to crash and new legs after my originals were damaged killing my asshole assassin father after I couldn't take his abuse anymore. Any way we made Cinder think we were heading to some location she wanted us at when really Neo teleported us to the base you were being held. Also don't worry about the notes on you, I rigged the whole place to blow and detonated once we took off." I give him my thanks and then begin to speak.

"From the sounds of it you read a profile on me so no introduction is needed. As for your pasts I could care less after what you guys did for me. So thanks for everything." I make my way back to the cot I was sleeping on only to stop when an emergency announcement starts playing on the holoscreen. It's an A.I. warning all flights to turn around as Vale has been breached. Mercury begins swearing "Damm it we're too late." The others look downcast until I point something out "So, you're all skilled Hunters and I can handle myself with this Kagune in me. Let's go help out, doing so might allow you to cut a deal for leniency in exchange for information you have." The three former criminals share a look before turning back and agreeing with me. Mercury and Emerald head to the cockpit to speed us up and I approach Neo.

"Neo how close are you to Roman?" Neo tilts her head at me and begins to type _"Not very, he's simply an employer. Why?"_ I can feel the smile filled with madness on my face, my tone once more taking on a sadistic edge. "Just wanted to make sure you wouldn't be too upset when I tear him to pieces." Is it just me or is Neo blushing? Oh well I better focus on planning how to deal with seeing my ex-friends. I honestly don't know how I'll react. It takes us about another hour but we arrive in Vale airspace only to see the city filled with grimm and widespread destruction. Neo's mouth drops slighty while Emerald and Mercury have a solemn look on their faces.

Emerald is the first to speak "We helped cause this." Her voice is fragile, Mercury puts a hand on her shoulder and tries to snap her out of it "Yah we did and now we have a chance to make up for it." Emerald nods and wipes her eyes when a Nevermore feather pierces the cabin and some wreckage hits Neo in the head. This is bad, we'll crash soon enough. I grab Neo and her Umbrella and call out to the Mercury and Emerald "OPEN THE DOORS NOW! WE GOTTA JUMP!" Doing what I say they rush to join us and we jump out with me holding Neo. We luckily land in an area with Hunters and the jolt of hitting the ground wakes Neo up. I put her down and turn around to see the fighters. Okay we're unlucky as its RWBY and NPR with who appears to be my twin sister Janice. A red blur suddenly crashes into me and I look down to see Ruby with teary eyes. "Jaune is that you?" I nod and reply to her "Yep Rubes, it's me."

 **Ruby's POV**

Jaune is actually back, he isn't dead although his hair's white and he's covered in blood. I'm so glad. I was furious when I woke up and learned that my team and NPR had killed Jaune thinking he was guilty. I'll admit I took some pleasure in seeing their faces when I told them Torchwood attacked me. Ozpin said the only reason he wasn't throwing them out was because He couldn't afford to let skilled individuals with the willingness to kill out on the streets. Their all on probation till they gradate though, the only privilege their allowed is to enter the tournament. Janice, Jaune's twin joined soon after and I don't care for her. She didn't even care Jaune died, saying it was his fault for being so weak.

A growl reminds me of our situation, Grimm have once more surrounded us. I know my team is out of ammo and the new JNPR is beginning to run low as well. Jaune suddenly lets go of me and walks towards the Grimm calling out orders to the three people with him. "Mercury handle the Deathstalkers, Emerald you take that pack of Beowolfs, and Neo think you can take those three Ursa?" The grey haired boy nods and attacks the Deathstalkers with what appears to be shotgun boots, the green girl starts shooting at the Beowolfs before moving close for melee attacks and the girl smaller then me nods before gaining a sadistic smirk and teleporting in front of the Ursa. I call out to Jaune as he walks towards a crowd of assorted Grimm.

"Jaune what are you doing? You don't have a weapon." Jaune turns his head toward me and he gives me a broken smile, something like that shouldn't be on Jaune's face. "Don't worry Ruby I always have a weapon on me." My question of what weapon dies in my throat when a purple and red tail bursts from his tail bone. What happened to you Jaune?

 **Jaune's POV**

I can feel their eyes on me as soon as the Kagune bursts from my tail bone. This tail feels balanced between speed and strength, perfect for the wide assortment of enemies I'm facing. I charge them and slid under an Ursa, my kagune ripping open its gut and as soon as I come out the other side I jump and slam my Kagune into some Beowolfs. This crushes them and I sprout three more tails which spear some Boarbatusks coming at me. An Ursa charge me and my tails retract followed by my Kagune moving up to my waist and four tentacles come out meeting the Ursa head on and piercing it's front legs, head, and chest before throwing the body on some Beowolfs to crush them. Some Nevermores begin to circle which is a problem, none of my kagune's forms, even the "wings", have the range to get them.

A barrage of bullets takes care of that problem. I turn to see Velvet and her team along with Port and Oobleck walking towards our group. I move over to Neo and the others and stand across from the Beacon group. I'm surprised when Ozpin shows up with Glynda a few minutes later. Ozpin addresses me first.

"Mr. Arc would you mind telling me where you've been the past four months." It's not a question but an order, after all I've been through I really don't feel like listening to orders. Mercury answers for me "He's been held captive and experimented on by the Queen." The Queen must be a codename for Cinder and Ozpin sure seems to know it judging by the widening of his eyes. Followed by the narrowing of them "And how do you know that?" Mercury swallows hard before continuing. "We worked for her before we found out she planned this." He gestures around him before continuing "We broke Jaune out and were on our way to warn you when but we were too late." Ozpin stares at them before speaking "Come with me you three, we'll discuss the course of action to be taken from here. Mr. Arc go see the school nurse for an examination." Knowing we have no choice Mercury and the others go with Ozpin while Port leads me to the nurse.

 **Three hours later**

It's been a few hours and after a through medical exam I'm cleared to leave and go to Ozpin's office, unfortunately I ran into WBY and the new JNPR on the way. I simply stare at them for a bit before trying to walk past them, but Yang grabs my arm. "Listen, Jaune we need to apologize for what happened." I don't even want to bother with this. Removing my arm from her grasp I walk on only to stop when Ren asks me a question.

"Jaune how did your clothes get so bloody?" heh I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they hear this. "Some of it's mine from Banesaw, a White Fang member, torturing me, the rest is from some Fang I killed during my esacpe." They all gasp at that. Honestly it's quite pathetic, even before I was captured I knew we may someday have to kill humans or faunus. I don't bother sticking around and simply walk on towards Ozpin's office.

Upon arrival I see the others are sitting across from Ozpin and I join them, once I'm seated Ozpin addresses me. "Mr. Arc these three have explained your changes and have shared all the information they have on Cinder, as such I have managed to get the council to place them under my custody. I doubt you want to be returned to your old team so would you like to join these three?" Honestly I don't even need to think it over "Sure, I'd love to form a team with them." They rescued me from hell, this is the least I could do. Ozpin nods with a smirk on his face, like he knew I'd automatically accept.

"Very well Jaune Arc, Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, and Neopolitan from this day forth you are Team MEAN led by Jaune Arc. I look forward to seeing how far you go, and try to keep bloodshed to a minimum. The other students just don't understand how dark this world can be." The four of us share a look and have similar smirks. Look out Beacon you've never seen a team like us.

 **So what do you think? I look forward to working on this story.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright time for more MEAN. I hope you enjoy this story as I have a fun time writing these stories. I do not own RWBY or Tokyo Ghoul. Also so I don't have to explain later Jaune's semblance only opens portals where he can see them, he will not be making any cross country trips. He can use things like telescopes to increase his range but he can't use pictures or video feeds. Also On-Eno the answer to your question on the teams is simply Schnee political clout forcing Ozpin to not break up the team.**

 _Neo's text talk- Ice Cream_

 **Chapter two- Cardinal Beat Down and Mob Madness**

 **Jaune's POV**

It's been a week since MEN saved me from Kanou and Banesaw, all classes were cancelled for the past week in order for injuries to heal and weapons to be repaired after the Breach. I spent this time getting to know my new team. Mercury is a sarcastic joker who enjoys making harmless insults to his friends and actual insults to everyone else, Emerald loves to pickpocket people for fun and argues with Mercury all the time, but only in jest, and Neo is a sadistic fighter yet out of combat she can be as sweat as her favorite treat, ice cream. I also gave names to the various transformations my Kagune takes: Ukaku for the wings, Koukaku for a shifting weapon around my right arm, Rinkaku for the tentacles, and Bikaku for the tail. I also tested other things about my condition. While I can still eat normal food too much makes me ill and Grimm are defiantly my main source of nutrients now, also I discovered a few new ways to use my Kagune's forms and a new Bikaku form, but my favorite is the Rinkaku.

It's my first school day on Team MEAN and once more I can't get the stupid tie on right, who invented these awful things. An electronic voice reaches my ear, Neo had a new app that speaks what she types, _"Here let me, I saw Roman do this enough."_ Neo, who is my new partner, then reaches up on her toes and ties the tie for me, when she's done she gains a look of annoyance. "What's wrong Neo?" Neo's response is to simply point at her uniform while having a cute pout on her face, I think I understand. "You don't like wearing the uniform?" I know I'm correct when she nods. Another thing I learned about Neo is her and regulations never go together. "I don't know why, you look quite cute in it." Neo gains a blush and whacks me on the arm, not that I feel it. Mercury calls out to us "Oh lovebirds hurry up I'm not getting detention for being late to Port's class, I've already heard enough horror stories about his detentions." The four of us then rush to class, I'm going to pay Mercury back for that comment.

When we get there we take seat in the back seats in the middle of the room and lessons start a few minutes later. Port begins with a congratulations and good job speech for those who fought in the Breach incident, considering there were no student fatalities congratulations are in order I suppose. "Now then who wants to show their skills off?" I'm actually feeling a little hungry right now. "I'll do it Professor." Everyone turns to stare at me, they all still think I can't fight. Oh the looks on their faces. I go change into my combat gear, a black t-shirt, trench coat, long black pants and combat boots. All the clothes are made from some Atlas tech that allows them to repair themselves, perfect for my Kagune.

Upon entering the arena Port open the cage to reveal a Creep, I won't even need the Kagune. The thing charges me only for me to sidestep and trip it up, once it's on the ground I stomp on a leg breaking it. My eye burns signaling its change, I lean down and bite into the things throat and begin tearing into it, I swallow the bites whole to get it over with. No matter how good it tastes it repulses me to eat these things. I continue eating and when I'm done look up to see shocked faces, let them think what they want. Their opinions mean nothing to me. Port however is ecstatic.

"Amazing mister Arc, you have actually become a predator of the Grimm. I must ask how it's possible." Port's a decent guy so I might tell him later, but for now too many ears around for my tastes. If specifics get back to Atlas I'm sure they'll try to replicate the process. Once I've changed back into my uniform, except the tie, I sit back down next to Neo who promptly fixes the damm thing. Evil thy name is ties. This time the reasons Port's lesson is ignored is because the students are all staring at me and my team, each of us looks a different direction and a quick burst of KI makes them look away. Port's lesson actually gives some useful info this time about dealing with packs of beowolfs, once the class is over we head to Oobleck's class.

When we arrive there Ruby sits next to me this time while WBY and JNPR are watching me from a corner, they've kept their distance from me, except Pyrrha, but I know it won't last. I overheard them talking about how they just need to give me time, yah maybe a few millennia to the power of infinity. Oobleck called on me during his speech about the importance of history, he wasn't fond of my answer. "History is worthless in the social climate of today. Humans and Faunus always try to make the other side look worse, so any books written are biased and based on history that is guaranteed to be biased as history is written by the victors." I've noticed the barrier that kept my inner thoughts from coming out has disappeared since I was rescued, I guess something inside of me really did break.

Tactics class for leaders was always my favorite before everything happened, Cardin always kept his mouth shut here because even he had to admit I excelled in this class. Professor Patton was glad to have me back, apparently I was his favorite student. I felt quite good hearing that. The lesson went by fairly fast for me, I'd already studied most of the books we had for this class. I thought being a great strategist would help make up for my lack of combat skills. The best part was crushing Janice in a battle simulation game, she always did enjoy beating me up when we were younger. I met up with the rest of my team on the way to combat class and I gave them some notes on strategy that I took, best they're prepared should they ever need to make a strategy.

Combat class, once my least favorite class but now I can't wait to fight. I felt such a rush fighting during the Breach, one I never felt before. I want to feel it again. Glynda has a screen display random matches to us. The first is Emerald vs. Weiss, this should be interesting. I warn Emerald before she heads to the changing room. "Weiss uses dust and glyphs, don't let you guard down and remove her weapon from her as soon as possible. Without it she loses most of her offensive potential." Emerald nods in response and then heads off to change into her combat gear. Mercury seems pretty excited for this match, when I ask why he responds with a smirk on his face. "Em hates the rich and spoiled, most street kids do. The Schnees are also known for "recruiting" kids off the streets, especially Faunus kids." I forgot just how bad the Schnee reputation was.

When Emerald and Weiss emerge I can feel the tension in the air, this could get ugly. "Beat her into the ground Weiss" and there's Yang with her loud mouth nature. Weiss begins to question Emerald as they circle each other looking for an opening. "Why did the Headmaster let criminal scum like you stay here? You should have been thrown in jail where you belong." Weiss picked the wrong tree to bark up. "I don't know, but he let you come here Schnee. Besides you aren't one to talk about being a criminal, not with your families "recruitment policies" not to mention the only reason your team is still together is because of politics." That part is true, Ruby told us that Weiss's father threatened to raise prices on dust for Beacon students and to blacklist Ruby if Ozpin broke up the team. Admitably Weiss had nothing to do with that last bit at least though. Weiss then charged Emerald in anger and missed by five feet, must be a subtle use of Emerald's semblance. Launching a few shots before moving in for close combat Emerald is on Weiss in seconds. Emerald told me she uses her semblance to make her opponent see blows come from different sides and thing like that in close combat, this fight is showing the results. Weiss can't even block a single blow, and Emerald reduced her options by batting her rapier out of her hands. A few minutes later and Weiss is out of aura while Emerald is at 90%. Everyone is shocked to see Weiss on the receiving end of a one sided beat down. The next view matches weren't noteworthy until it came up Mercury vs. Yang, kicks vs punches should be interesting.

Mercury already knows Yang's style by watching her practice so no warning is necessary. Mercury plays his greatest strength early on in the fight, his ability to get under his opponent's skin. "So how long did those extensions take to put in place?" Using Yang's hair obsession to his advantage by causing her to go into a rage he wears her down by dodging all her blows until she was exhausted thirty minutes later, what followed was a brutal barrage of high-speed kicks that finished off Yang's aura reserves with the final blow being Mercury launching her into the air followed by a mid-air ax kick. Yang was down for the count before she even hit the ground, but not unconscious. Say what you will about Cinder she clearly was a good trainer, Mercury couldn't resist a parting remark as he walked out of the arena "Guess you ain't so good when your opponent's actually facing you and not impaled."

I felt a great bit of excitement when the next match came up, due to numbers and to prepare us for the possibility of fighting a numerical advantage we would sometimes pit one team vs one student. This match was me vs. CRDL, oh this will be fun. When I arrive in the arena I can see MEN cheering me on out of the corner of my eye, meanwhile all of CRDL has confident smirks on their faces. "Well Jauney-boy it's just like old times." That smug look and confident tone I can't wait to remove them.

 **Play Unravel while reading this part.**

As soon as we receive the word to start I've jumped up and come at Cardin with a kick, in an admitably impressive display of reaction time he grabs my leg. "Got you and I'm not letting go even if it breaks." If that's the case… I spin around, my leg twisting in an unnatural way with a crunching sound. My kick sends Cardin flying into the wall, my eye begins to burn once more. Landing on the ground my leg spins back into proper place as if it had never been broken "After everything I've been through, that doesn't even sting." I begin to walk towards the other three but stop when I hear Cardin's footsteps behind, looking over my shoulder I see him coming for an overhand swing. My Rinkaku comes out and wraps around my arm forming a claw which I use to catch Cardin's mace, a shocked look comes over his face "What the hell are you?" I rip his mace out of his hands and throw it into Dove's gut, but what he says strikes a chord in me. What am I now?

Sky interrupts my thought process by coming at me with his halberd with Russel coming from above with his daggers, withdrawing my Rinkaku and switching to my Koukaku I have it take a form reminiscent of a hammer and I use it to bat away Sky's halberd and punch him in the gut with my uncovered fist. Dancing around Russel's aerial attack I use a back roundhouse kick to knock Sky out while my Koukaku hits Russel in the back of the skull sending him into a state of unconscious. Dove is back up by this point and using his weapon's gun mode to send a storm of bullets at me, unfortunately for him they merely bounce of my skin. "Is this really all you guys have? I figured you would have improved some while I was gone." This is boring me, no tactics and barely any teamwork make this so easy. Time to finish it, Switching to my Ukaku I use my semblance to open portals above Dove and Cardin with one in front of me and send a few crystals flying. Dove gains some gashes that drain him of aura, putting him in the red, but Cardin has one pierce his arm putting him out of commission. With all four out of commission I win.

 **End Unravel**

"Mr. Arc what were you thinking? That last attack was out of line." Glynda starts yelling at me so I respond in kind "It's not my fault they were overconfident and haven't improved at all." I walk off while Glynda deals with Cardin, when I'm almost to the door I hear Cardin charging me once more, fool. Using my Koukaku in a rapier shape I stab him in the gut, my sadistic side comes up as I twist the blade "You really are stupid Cardin, try that again and I'll make sure you suffer before I end your miserable existence." Withdrawing my Koukaku and heading back to the changing are where I change clothes, force my eye back to normal and head back up to the stands to see everyone but my team and Ruby staring at me with looks of fear, really these kids signed up to fight monsters and yet they can't handle my Kagune and how I dealt with Cardin. My team congratulates me along with Ruby but I'm barely paying attention, what Cardin said really got to me. I'm not human, faunus or grimm so what am I?

Neo jumping up and down brings me back and I see she's fighting next. Up on the screen the words Pyrrha vs Neo appear, current partner vs ex-partner. Ozpin probably set this up. "Neo, Pyrrha has a semblance involving magnetism, she uses it to make small adjustments in her stance or throw off her opponents. Be careful okay partner." Neo smiles up at me and has me lean down, when I do she kisses me on the cheek and then walks off with a sway in her hips. I honestly don't know if that girl is messing with me or if she is actually interested.

Neo and Pyrrha are standing across from each other, it's interesting to look at the differences. Pyrrha is visibly strong, tall, and is mostly straight up in a fight, while Neo is petite, doesn't show how strong she really is, and relies on beguile and illusions. Neo has a sadistic smile on her face while Pyrrha has a frown, she's tried to approach me several times but I open a portal under her each time and drop her as far away as I can see. I know Neo has also been taunting Pyrrha so this is a grudge match of sorts.

When the match begins Pyrrha moves first sending slashes and trying to use acrobatics to get around Neo, unfortunately for her Neo is even more acrobatic and is great at deflecting with her Umbrella. Using the hidden blade on the tip of her weapon Neo stabs Pyrrha in the leg, her signature smirk on her face the whole time, before jumping back. Pyrrha switches Milo into rifle mode only for Neo to use her semblance, a version of me appears in the arena. Blonde hair, my original outfit, and to complete the look Milo's spear mode piercing it, the fake me reaches out towards Pyrrha with blood gushing from the wound and dripping from its mouth. Pyrrha stops in her tracks and tears fill her eyes while she backs away, big mistake when facing Neo.

A sadistic smirk appears on the fake me and it charge Pyrrha, losing the image right in front of her and once more looking like Neo. With a grin Neo stabs Pyrrha in her unarmored midriff with both of her blades and twists, Pyrrha is nearly at the red zone and Glynda moves to stop the match but before she can Neo kicks Pyrrha's legs out from under her. Pyrrha falls off Neo's blades onto the ground where Neo stomps on her face, sending her into the red. "MISS NEO!" of course this sent Glynda off. Ignoring her and looking our direction Neo sent us a smirk which the three of us returned. Glynda then dragged all four of us off to Ozpin's office.

 **Two Hours later**

Waste of time, that describes that meeting to a T. Glynda complained to Ozpin about how brutal we were for nearly the entire time only for Ozpin to say it's combat class and to expect injuries. So now we're on a bullhead to Vale since it is Friday afternoon and Neo want's ice cream. The first thing I learned about Neo as her partner is when she wants ice cream she gets it. So now Team MEAN's first outing is to an ice cream shop. The city has had a decent amount of repairs done so not much is damaged now, Emerald, Mercury, and I are praying the ice cream shop is open. No-one wants to see an ice cream deprived Neo.

On the way there Neo wanted to stop walking so she had me carry her on my shoulders, the stares we received were annoying. Mercury and Emerald had a blast with it of course, when, not if but when, they become a couple I will remember this. Neo got off of me when we reached the place which was thankfully open, the worker recognized Neo and after she held up four fingers he said he'd put it on her tab, only Neo would have a tab at an ice cream parlor. After we sit down the waiter brings us four Neapolitan ice cream sundaes, I play around with mine but don't really eat it. Noticing somethings wrong with me Mercury is the first to broach the subject.

"What's got you in the dumps?" with all their attention on me I try to explain how I feel, these three would understand what I'm going through given they've just gone through a huge change in life. "What Cardin said got to me, what am I? I'm not human, faunus or grimm, and my life depends on grimm being available. If the dream of eradicating grimm was ever achieved in my lifetime then I would lose the nutrients I need to survive. Yet here I am trying to become a huntsman, I'm a conundrum in the end." The others share a look and Neo gets out her scroll and begins typing _"It's simple to be honest, you're Jaune Arc. The man whose gone through so much and still hold some good in him, true you have a dark side but so do all of us. You came back to help people that tried to kill you, we worked for the woman who caused everything bad to happen to you and you accepted us. Most importantly you my partner, I'll follow you to hell and back for what you've done for us. The only reason Ozpin did what he did for us was because he trusts you. Besides grimm are born from negative emotion, so if need be I'll just cause some bad feelings if we ever get close to eradicating grimm."_ I can't help but laugh when I see that last bit, I know she's completely serious, Mercury and Emerald agree with Neo after seeing what she wrote, it's then that I know that I wouldn't trade anything for this team.

After we finish eating we are heading back to Beacon when we here a scream, fearing some grimm might have been hiding we rush to the source, which was in a deserted lot, only to find something much worse. A young girl with mouse ears backing up from a group of about twenty people, in front of her are two corpses. I know they're dead because each corpse is in two pieces, clearly caused by the old man with the bladed whip at the front of the group. I then notice the emblem on each of the mob, a claw dripping blood, so their some of the Red Claw. Formed even before the White Fang turned violent the Claw are a raciest organization dedicated to the genocide of faunus, even with faunus being oppressed any member of the Claw has an instant death penalty and dead or alive orders because of their brutality. We'll be going with the former option. The four of us get between the mob and the girl and the man at the front begins to speak.

"Listen up you kids, I'm commander Mado of the Red Claw. Get out of the way so we can kill this abomination or we'll end you four as well." A chorus of agreement's rise up from the crowd, the fools don't even realize they're living on borrowed time now. The burning enters my eye and I let go of my grip on sanity. "Team MEAN here's the plan. Slaughter everyone but Mado, Neo and I can have some fun with him." Emerald and Mercury nod while Neo gains her signature smile, this will be fun. It takes us no time at all to kill the mob, Mercury crushed skulls and chests with his kicks while Emerald slashed a few open with her sickles, Neo made quick work of those who got in her way, and I cut the three that got in my path to Mado into pieces with my Rinkaku. Mado was pathetic, all he did was swing like a mad man with no finesse. It was child's play to get the whip out of his hands and pin him to the ground. Now he's begging for his life now, I'm sure those faunus did as well but he didn't listen to them. "Emerald, Mercury take the girl to Ozpin for now, Neo and I will join you later." Emerald picks up the poor girl and heads off to Beacon, Mercury following after spitting on the closest Claw corpse. Neo joins me and looks at me questioningly while Mado tries to break free.

"Don't worry Neo I have a plan." I turn towards Mado, my voice gaining even more of a sadistic edge. "Now Mado here's what's going to happen, you will count down from one thousand by seven. During that time we will be breaking 103 of your bones, exactly half. This will half-kill you, if you succeed in counting down before I'm done I turn you into the police. If you're not done when I'm finished I will finish the job." Mado nods and I break the first bone, gesturing to Neo to break the next she does. Mado screams out in pain but we ignore him. This is repeated with me and Neo alternating who breaks a bone, by the time we're done Mado has only counted down to 315. He's practically brain dead by the time we're done.

I throw him on the ground and then hear a whisper coming from him "Pl….plea….se do…don…'t kill me." Anger courses through my veins, how dare this piece of trash beg for his life after what he's done. He orphaned a young girl and butchered who know how many faunus, Neo looked through his wallet during his half-killing and found a photo of him and Kasuka Mado. She was a politician who was killed by one random faunus about ten years ago. I can understand wanting revenge on that specific man but to drag innocents into it as well. My voice becomes cold when I tell him the last words he'll hear. "You killed that girl's parents, you were going to kill her as well, and Oum knows how many more innocent's you've killed. So you have no right to complain when I kill you." With that said I used my Rinkaku to stab him in his heart, if he even has one. Making sure all the Claw emblems are visible Neo teleports us to the air docks where we find Mercury, Emerald, and the girl.

I approach the girl after Emerald gestures that it's okay to approach her. I introduce the four of us and then ask what happened. The girl tells us that her parents were bringing her back from dinner when the Claw surrounded them in that lot, somehow they knew the White Fang were responsible for the Breach and this reignited their hatred for faunus. Her parents blocked a blow for her which killed them and then we arrived. Telling the girl we're taking her somewhere safe I then ask her for her name.

"My name is Hinami Fueguchi."

 **So what do you think? Also I need weapon names for Mercury, Neo, and Emerald's weapons. All ideas are welcomed.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own RWBY or Tokyo Ghoul. Weapon names have been decided. For Mercury, Steel Tempest entered by ExplodingKnuckler, for Emerald, Dexterity Shackles also from ExpoldingKnuckler, and for Neo, Bloody Mary entered by DARKPHANTOM13. Thank you for your ideas.**

 _Neo's Text talk- Jaune_

 **Chapter 3- A Junior Member of Team MEAN.**

 **Jaune's POV**

We've just gotten back to Beacon with Hinami. The poor girl is only thirteen and her family was ripped away from her. We decided the best course of action is to talk to Ozpin about Hinami staying with us, an orphanage is a no-go for a faunus. Students turn to stare at us for bringing back a young faunus, this causes Hinami to hide behind my back and flatten her ears against her head. A quick glare makes the onlookers to turn their heads away. Getting on the elevator to Ozpin's office we wait for the doors to open only to arrive at a fight in the making. Ozpin is yelling at someone with an Atlas uniform on and a strip of metal on his brow. They turn to look at us and metal brow begins to yell louder.

"You can't let them get away with this Ozpin! Just how am I supposed to make people feel safe when they pull stunts like that?" I shoot Ozpin a stare and he plays a news report. It goes on about how some people found the Red Claw scum we killed, even going on to describe the conditions the bodies were in. The only part I cared about was that it listed the morgue Hinami's parents are in so we can go claim them for burial. When the report is done metal brow gives me a what-do-you-have-to-say-for-yourself glare. "Look metal-brow the Red Claw have dead or alive orders, we simply chose the former. I honestly don't see what the problem is." Metal brow's face begins to turn bright red at that.

"First off I'm General Ironwood, secondly you don't see the problem? You slaughtered people in the middle of Vale, you can't just kill people like that." So he's one of those self-righteous types huh, prick. Mercury just decides to cut straight to the point "Look we're only here to tell Ozpin about how we're taking responsibility for Hinami and to work out the logistics of it metal brow, we could care less about the aftermath of putting scum like the Claw down." Ironwood rounds on that in an instant "Like I would ever let a young girl stay with three criminals and a monster like you four, I know plenty of Atlas orphan…" He's stopped by my Rinkaku pointing at his face.

"Try it and you won't like the results." Ironwoods face turns red and he clearly wants to shout at us but is weary of my Rinkaku, maybe he's not as dumb as I thought. Ozpin coughs into his throat and draws our attention to him. "Mr. Arc please retract your Kagune and Ironwood they're in the right. The Claw has dead or alive orders after all." I retract my Kagune while Ironwood is staring at Ozpin in shock. "You can't be serious Ozpin?" A glare is his answer.

"You called one of my students a monster and the others criminals. You may leave now." This is the Ozpin I never want to be on the opposite side of a battlefield of, his tone sends shivers down my spine. Ironwood realizes staying isn't an option and heads out the door after giving us a glare. "Now Mr. Arc, what are your plans for Hinami?" I honestly hadn't given it much thought, recognizing that Ozpin rubs his forehead and groans slightly. "Really Mr. Arc? Very well she can be my helper during your school hours, the rest of the time she's your responsibility. I'll attempt to find any relatives for her to go to." Hinami steps out from behind me and addresses Ozpin.

"Thank you sir." I pat her on the head as Ozpin smiles at her. "Now then how about you five head back to your dorm, I'll arrange for a new bed to be delivered tomorrow." Thanking Ozpin we head back to our dorm and once we reach there we have to figure out who sleeps where. Mercury is adamant about his own bed and I can respect that, he rarely uses covers because he finds them uncomfortable because of his prosthetics. Well as the leader I have to make tough calls. "I'll take the floor while Hinami takes my bed." While Emerald and Mercury look relieved Neo gives a slight frown. "Taking turns using the shower the five of us get ready for bed, luckily some of Neo's old clothes fit Hinami. As I settle on the floor I soon find myself on Neo's bed with her snuggling into my back.

"You're not going to let me go now are you?" A shake of her head answers that question. Mercury hits the lights while holding in fits of laughter. Trying to ignore him I try to drift off to sleep but find it difficult as Neo is breathing right on my neck, right as I'm drifting off to sleep someone taps on my face and I open my eyes to find Hinami with watering eyes.

"I'm sorry Mr. Jaune but I can't sleep, every time I close my eyes I see…" The tears start to flow from her eyes. "WAH! IT'S ALL MY FAULT. I WAS THE ONE THAT WANTED TO FO OUT TO EAT, THEY TOLD ME IT WOULD BE BETTER WITH WE ATE IN BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO." she breaks down on the spot, honestly I'm amazed it didn't happen sooner. The lights are turned on by Mercury, Emerald is immediately up out of bed, and Neo picks herself up off my back. I scoop Hinami up in my arms and feel her tears drench my sleep shirt.

"Its fine Hinami, no one expects you to recover instantly from what happened. You lost your family in an especially traumatic way, I now I'd be nowhere near as composed as you are right now. Just remember your parents loved you, they would do what they did again if they had to. I promise you they would never blame you for what happened, the Claw is to blame for this not you." I push her back slightly and stare her in the eyes. "You have to promise me you understand it wasn't you fault." She nods in response but goes back to crying on my left shoulder. Her cries soon subside and I find that she's fallen asleep on my shoulder. Mercury lets out a growl as soon as we confirm Hinami is asleep.

"Damn them all, I swear any Claw member I see is as good as dead." I nod and feel my eye shift. "Count me in on that, I'll tear them to pieces." Neo taps on my arm and gestures to my bed with a pout on her face. I tilt my head to the side while forcing my eye back to normal and stare at her. "Are you jealous?" a blush appears on Neo's cheeks and she shakes her head rapidly. I feel a grin spread across my face, finally a way to pay her back for all these confusing signals she has sent me. I pull her against my other shoulder and her blush spreads even more across her face. "Don't be jealous Neo, you'll always be my number one girl." I send a glare at Mercury and Emerald when they start snickering and they shut it. I try to get up but Neo grips my waist and pulls me back down. I turn to meet her eyes.

"You're not going to let me off the hook for that are you." With a wide grin she shakes her head and snuggles into my side. I drift off to sleep soon after.

 **Time skip- two days later Location- cemetery**

Hinami is holding onto my side as her parents are lowered into the ground, besides us only Ozpin is here. Apparently Hinami's family only recently moved here from Mistral and didn't really know anyone and her parents were both orphans so she has no family we can contact to take her in. The coffins are nothing really special but they're both built properly, the coroner we approached thought it was funny to ask if we wanted two coffins or four. Through that comment we found out you can make coffins with one of your arms broken. Once the burial is over and Ozpin leads Hinami to the taxi to take us back to the air docks me and the rest of MEAN approach the graves. Emerald goes first and steps up to lay a flower on their shared grave.

"I'm sorry we couldn't save you, guess we really aren't meant to help others out. I hope you can put some trust in us because I promise I'll protect Hinami for you." She back up and Mercury is next. "I wish I had parents like you. I never knew my mom and my dad was… well we didn't part ways peacefully. I swear I won't let your sacrifice be in vain. I'll make sure Hinami doesn't join you for a long time." I step up to finish for us since Neo can't do her own promise. "I think I speak for all of us when I say we're happy to take Hinami in, I just wish your deaths weren't how it had to happen. I swear on my name that I'll see to it that she's shielded from the cruelty of this world." We then turn around and head to the cab which takes us to the air docks where we board a Bullhead and then head back to Beacon. Once there Ozpin has us come to his office.

"Now then, we need to figure out what to do about Hinami since she has no-one to go to." A look of panic appears on Hinami's face at that sentence. "You're not going to send me away are you?" Emerald immediately engulfs Hinami in a hug and gets rid of those fears. "No, of course not. We just need to find a way that you can be taken care of while we have class and missions." Hinami calms down after hearing that but holds onto Emerald. Clearing his throat Ozpin continues. "Now Hinami can continue to assist me for the time being but it's her schooling I'm worried about." I nod in understanding, we can't just stop Hinami's studies.

"What's your plan for that Ozpin?" it's Ozpin, he always has a plan. Turning the computer on his desk around he shows us the login screen on a website. "This is an online teaching website. Hinami can take her classes on it when you all are in classes here in my office with me." Ozpin is then tackled by Hinami who's thanking him over and over. Smiling down at her Ozpin pats her on the back. "Its fine, no need to thank me. Now how about you go get something to eat, I need to talk to team MEAN." Hinami nods and then runs to the elevator. Mercury is the first to broach the subject.

"So what's this about Ozpin?" Ozpin sips his coffee and sits down before answering. "The council has decided in response to your actions against the claws you all are to be put on termination missions." His voice has an edge to it. "What do you mean by termination missions?" Ozpin's grip on his mug tightens in response to Emerald's question. "You all are to be sent on missions that are all about killing, White Fang based missions for instance." So he wants to protect us, sweet but not needed. Smirks tinged with sadness appears on the others faces and Mercury speaks.

"We appreciate the concern but killing is what the three of us are best at. We've already tainted our hands with too much blood, I doubt we're any different than the Claw." My Rinkaku smacks each of them on the back of the head for that. "Idiots, the difference is that you all actually regret what you did." Shock is on all their faces and Ozpin continues. "Yes, they also want two specific teams with you all to and this is their words "keep an eye on the rogue elements". Wait… two specific teams. "Ozpin please tell me it's not RWBY and JNPR." His nod is all the answer I need. I have no problem working with Ruby but I don't want her on a mission featuring killing and I can barely hold myself back from tearing WBY and NPR to shreds as it is.

Emerald is the first to express our shared concerns. "Your joking, what idiot thinks putting all of us together is a good idea?" Ozpin rubs his temples. "The council thought they hold the best chance of taking you all down should you go rouge." That's laughable at best. "They're idiots." I think my statement sums it up nicely. Ozpin just nods and then dismisses us. We head to the cafeteria and there we find Cardin and his team bullying Hinami. My fist meets Cardins face using a portal, Neo is behind Dove in a second and beating him senseless, Mercury has rushed up and kicked Sky in the gut sending him flying into the wall, and Emerald has dealt a blow to Russel's solar plexus. Once they're all away from Hinami I put a part of my Rinkaku under each of their throats. My eye shifted the moment we stepped into the cafeteria.

"What was that all about?" sweat is trailing down their faces but Cardin still manages to sneer me and talk in a cocky tone. "We were just making sure the animal understood her place." A grin filled with madness spreads across my face and I cackle. "You know Cardin, its taking everything I have not to tear you to pieces right now. Leave before I do something I'll enjoy immensely." Cardin looks like he wants to argue or fight me but the fact I'm piercing his neck slightly stops him. Retracting my Rinkaku slightly his team picks themselves up and walk out. Looking around I see everyone staring at us. "WELL, WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?" Deciding it's better for their health to stop staring I walk over to the others who are checking on Hinami. She's upset but explains that CRDL didn't touch her only called her animal and things of that nature. We then settle down to eat and after we finish head to our room for bed.

 **Time Skip- next day at Combat class**

 **Jaune vs Pyrrha**

I don't know who thought this was a good idea but it's not. Perhaps this thing really is random, even Ozpin wouldn't pair the two of us up. "Kick her ass Jaune." I look to see Ruby handing out little flags with MEAN on them. Where does she get those things? Neo then hands me her scroll with two words typed out. _"For luck."_ I put the scroll down and look at her. "What's for lu…" I'm cut off by her pulling me down into a kiss. She doesn't pull away for a minute and I know I'm beat red when she pulls away. Neo then sends me a sultry glance and winks at me. I just walk off and try to ignore the laughter behind me. Once I'm done in the arena I stare across to see Pyrrha looking at me with hurt and sorrow on her face. The buzzer goes off and I rush at her with my Koukaku wrapped around my arm in a drill shape. Her shield stops it and I use a portal to get some distance between us. Pyrrha follows by trying to shoot me with her rifle and the bullet actually pierces my shoulder. Guess I'm only bulletproof to a certain degree.

"Jaune, just give up. I don't want to hurt you." Doesn't want to hurt me, DOESN'T WANT TO HURT ME! She actually has the nerve to say that to me. She destroyed my heart literally, what right does she have to say she doesn't want to hurt me. My eye burns and I abandon my grasp on sanity. My tone takes on that sadistic edge. "Well we have a problem Nikos…" I get on all fours and switch out for my Rinkaku. "… because I really want to hurt you." I push of the ground and rush her and as she shoots at me I open a portal under me and come at her from above. "TAKE THIS!" My Rinkaku wraps the individual pieces together and smashes down on her as one large mass. A glance at the screen tells me she's at 70% of her aura. Using the tentacles as legs I back up and then switch to my new form for the Bikaku. It looks like a purple King Taijitu head, it's even capable of opening up its mouth and swallowing. Meanwhile Pyrrha is pushing herself up off the ground

"You know Nikos, I can't begin to explain how much I hate you. WE WERE PARTNERS AND YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVED I COULD DO THAT." Tears have started falling down from my eyes. My voice goes soft. "Why did you think I was capable of doing that, was I such a burden you would do anything to get rid of me?" the mad smile and tone return. "Not that it matters anymore, I'm out of your hair now." Insane laughter pours from my throat. I stop when I hear Pyrrha speak up.

"I know Jaune, I shouldn't have ever believed you were capable of hurting Ruby. But the evidence…" My Bikaku slams inches from her into the ground. "Evidence be damned, you should have at least let an investigation happen. Because of you all I went through Hell!" Pyrrha shakes her head as tears fall. "I know I can never fix what happened but can't we try to put it behind us?" More laughter follows that moronic statement.

"Put it behind me!" I switch back to Rinkaku and send a barrage of swings at her. She uses her shield and spear to block most of them but I'm steadily wearing her down. My Kagune takes little aura to use as I merely use it to supplement my Rc cell supply so I can easily outlast Pyrrha. "Yes, let's just put behind me your spear going through my heart, the countless experiments I went through, getting carved up my that accursed chainsaw, having my fingers and toes ripped off only for them to regrow." My strikes go even faster and are starting to wear me out. "But most of all let's put having centipedes stuffed down my ear so they could feast on my brain behind me. NO CHANCE IN HELL!" My Rinkaku knocks her weapon away and wraps around her shield arm before pulling her in to meet a roundhouse kick to the face. This puts her at the knockout point and I begin to leave.

"Never come near me when its unnecessary again." I head to the changing room and then go up to my team in the stands. While they know what I went through Ruby is looking at me with her face pale and tears in her eyes. "That happened to you." I simply nod, no point in lying about it. Ruby runs straight into me and starts crying. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. If I had been stronger Torchwick wouldn't have beaten me and you wouldn't have gone through all that." I shake my head at her, why would she think I blame her.

"It's not your fault Ruby, Torchwick is said to be at a level of a trained Hunter." Makes me wonder how I'll beat him. "I don't blame you in the slightest but if you blame yourself I know a way you can make it up to me." This should cheer her up just fine. "What is it?" I send a smile at her. "I have an idea for a weapon for me so I don't rely on my Kagune all the time. Want to help me make it?" the smile on her face tells me I've cheered her up just fine. I feel a stare on me and see that Neo is pouting again. "You can help as well Neo." The pout goes away and she hugs the side Ruby isn't. What am I going to do with these two?


	4. Chapter 4

**All right time for the next chapter of Precipice of Madness. Hope you're ready for this one because I think you'll all like this one. Now some people have asked for Ruby to join the pairing and so I'd like for people to put reasons they agree with that or reasons they think it should stay Jaune and Neo in their reviews and I'll go from there. I should reach a decision by chapter six. I do not own RWBY or Tokyo Ghoul.**

 **Chapter 4- First Termination Mission.**

 **One week after last chapter**

 **Jaune's POV**

"All right Jaune a little more heat." I push down on the part that adds air to the fire. Ruby and I are putting some final touches on my new weapon, Neo is helping Ruby with some of the more delicate parts of the tasks. I was worried that this possessiveness Neo has of me would affect things but after a private talk between the two they get along just fine. I'm honestly a little worried about what happened in that room. As Ruby hammers on the weapon Neo and I's scrolls start ringing. I answer mine to find Ozpin contacting us.

"Mr. Arc please come to my office and bring Miss Neo." I turn to the girls. "Neo, Ozpin wants us. Are you going to be okay if we head out Ruby?" Ruby sends me a smirk. "Of course, all that's left is to make sure this thing extends right. Go on you two I'll finish this." I ruffle her hair and then head out with Neo on my back, literally. As payment for her help I have to give her ice cream and piggyback rides. Neo doesn't "talk" about her past but I honestly wonder what her childhood was like for her to act this way sometimes. Once we reach Ozpin's office we find JNPR, Emerald, and Neo are already here.

"Ah now that you two are here we can begin." Sitting in the seats Ozpin gestures to we settle in and Mercury whispers in my ear. "Turns out we just have to have one of the two teams with us. At least it's half the annoyance then." I smirk at that, Pyrrha has tried to talk to me constantly since our fight and it's truly is annoying. Ozpin coughs and I focus on him and the projection he has.

"This is the White Fang base I'm sending you all too, normally I'd fight the council every step of the way and send others however I felt Jaune should see this." A picture is pulled up showing a blond man in a white suit. He's skinny and doesn't look that special except for his eyes, both look like mine when it shifts. Shock is on all our faces. Emerald is the first to get something out.

"I… I swear we destroyed all the documents, digital and hard, that we could find. We hadn't heard anything about other subjects." Ozpin waves her off showing he believes her. "I trust you did, as you can see Cinder kept a couple pieces in reserve. I need you all to find out how many more like him there are and the difference between him and Mr. Arc. Destruction of the base is optional. I doubt the number of eyes changing is the only thing." I'm still stuck on the fact more like me exist. Ozpin then transfers all the data we'll need on the base and we head towards the air docks.

Once there we get on the pre-arranged Bullhead and keep ourselves separate from JNPR. It's about a five hour flight so Mercury settles for a nap while Emerald pulls up an e-book. I decide to stock up on Rc Cells on the way. Ozpin apparently called in some favors from a Dr. Geppetto to see what could be done about my need for Rc cells. Geppetto's answer was some artificial stuff he whipped up, it tastes like crap but it's a decent substitute when I can't eat any Grimm. A single pill gives me about a Beowolf's worth of Rc cells but to many could cause an overdose. There was an unfortunate incident where we found too many Rc cells in my body can cause me to lose control. Luckily it was in a controlled environment but I nearly broke out of there.

I choke down two pills and put the container back in my coat's inner pocket. Soon I've settled into my chair and try to fall asleep if not for JNPR approaching me. "What do you want? I'm trying to rest here." Janice gives me a glare before speaking. "We want to know what we can expect from your fellow what-ever you are." I snort at that. "You do realize there are differences between us. Don't expect to be facing a replica of me. Expect the possibility of a high healing factor, the Kagune, enhanced speed, strength, reflexes, and senses." That seems to satisfy them and they move off. I lean back against my seat and decide to follow Mercury's example only to open my eyes once more when a weight settles down on my lap.

"Neo, what do you want?" Neo simply leans against me and closes her eyes. Ever since that night with Hinami she's been insisting on having contact with me as much as possible. I won't lie and say I don't enjoy her company but I don't get why she shows interest in me. Any second I could go wild, I feel the Kagune rebelling against me in moments of weakness. It doesn't like being tied down. On the other hand Neo doesn't judge me for it, I can see the fear in everyone's eyes at Beacon, only Ruby, my team, and a few teachers aren't scared of me. I soon drift of myself.

I wake up when my scroll starts buzzing along with everyone else's and I answer it to find Ozpin on the other end, the clock says it's about an hour more of flying. "Alright students your flight stops here. It's about two miles from the compound and while the council is certain no air defenses are in place I'd rather be safe than sorry. Make your way on foot and then deal with the compound as you see fit. Once you're mission is done call for extraction. Jaune is in charge so follow his orders, before I forget only Jaune is allowed to engage the target until data is gathered on his skills and weaknesses." Makes sense as it's the safest choice. I can take any damage he dish out but Janice clearly disagrees.

"I'm sure I could handle this creature Ozpin." Ozpin actually looks amused at that. "If I recall you've never beaten Nikos and Jaune beat her. By that definition he's stronger then you and therefore the best choice." Janice turns red with anger and looks away from the screen before it goes black and soon the Bullhead lands and we exit and find ourselves in some woods. Emerald uses her weapon to get on some tree branches and starts climbing. Five minutes later she climbs back down.

"I saw some smoke rising in the North, too much for just a campfire." I nod and signal to the others. "We'll head that way then. Everyone be quiet, I don't want Fang on us before we even reach the facility." We start walking towards the base with Emerald taking the trees above us to stay ahead slightly to scout. It takes us an hour to get to a hill overlooking the place. I take a pair of binoculars from Mercury and start looking over the facility. I count four anti-air turrets.

"Alright I can see a door on the roof, Neo and Emerald will infiltrate and sabotage from the inside, JNPR you'll attack from the other side of the compound to draw some defenders away while Mercury and I attack from this side." The other benefit of this is I don't have to deal with JNPR's "morals". Janice looks like she wants to argue but a glare with my eye shifted changes her mind. I go back to looking at the roof through the binoculars when a tug on my sleeve draws my attention to Neo holding up her scroll.

 _"_ _When this is over I want a date."_ My eyes widen and Neo then gives me her puppy dog eyes. However a warm feeling spreads through me at that, another reason why I like hanging out with Neo. She's one of the only people that makes a positive emotion form in me. "Sure Neo, just don't drain my wallet on ice cream." Neo give me a wink which is her way of saying no promises. I turn back to the roof and spot two Fang on it now but the door is held open by something I can't see.

"Hostiles on the roof. Go in quick and deadly ladies." I open the portal behind the two Fang who appear to be sneaking a drink. Neo and Emerald creep through the portal and sneak up behind the Faunus. While Faunus have superior senses they can still miss stuff, Neo is a master at silent movement and Emerald's pickpocket past gave her the skills to do this. Neo and Emerald slit a Fang's throat each and then drag the corpses to the portal and push them through so there's no need to hide the bodies. Ignoring the gasps from JNPR I focus on the girls. Neo changes her form to a female bunny Faunus in a Fang outfit while doing the same to Emerald except she's a cat Faunus. They then move into the building and I start looking for a new spot to place JNPR. I find a clearing that shouldn't be visible from the compound and set a portal up.

"That's your ride, when you hear explosions or fighting that's your que to attack." Walking through it JNPR ends up at the clearing and I put away the binoculars. Mercury then addresses me.

"So how we want to do this?" I send a smirk his way. "How's Death from Above sound?" Mercury gains a grin and nods. Opening a portal on the ground and one in the air above the compound Mercury and I jump through. I release my Ukaku and unleash crystallized hell upon the ground. I can hear the screams and the scattering of guards. Mercury shoots Steel Tempest off in the air and gains speed heading towards the ground and before he hits the ground spins around so that he can perform an ax kick on some Fang who looks like a tin can someone stepped on after wards. Before I hit the ground I switch to the King Taijitu Bikaku form and slam it down upon three Fangs. It's like stomping on bugs. The rest of the fang fall easily enough to Mercury's boots and my Kagune.

"So this is the guy Big Bro talked about." I turn to the voice that spoke and find the blonde guy staring at me with excitement. "And who is this Big Bro you speak of." A big grin overtakes the face of the guy while Mercury comes up behind me. Explosions in the distance let me know JNPR has started attacking. "Banesaw told me all about his time with you, oh right my names Naki." Naki cracks his knuckle like Banesaw and a Koukaku covers the top part of his right arm. It looks like a Broadsword and an insect shell crossed together. I motion to the building with my head.

"Mercury go pick up some Mint Icecream." Mercury understands the message and runs towards the building to go look for Neo and Emerald. I focus on the guy in front of me, I can't take any chances with him no matter how stupid he acts. I send my Bikaku rushing at him only for him to dance around it and cut a chunk off it. I retract my Bikaku and switch to my Rinkaku. To my shock Naki picks up the chunk of Kagune and eats it.

"Man you taste good." Noticing the shock on my face he laughs. "Oh you didn't know did you, we can eat each other. Big Bro used me to grow much stronger." Great, just great. Now Banesaw is a … come to think of it did they name us. "Hey, wait do they call us?" Naki looks puzzled by my question but shrugs. "Kanou called us Ghouls, of course I don't know if we count as a species. Only about ten or so of us." Wow, getting the info we need is going to be easy.

"Why so few? I mean we're quite powerful." Naki gains a look of anger at that question. "Kanou didn't give us the recipe for the sedative so we can't capture any more shifters." That's good. Not giving him a moment to recover I charge at him and try to pierce him only for Naki to block all my attacks with a wild grin on his face. "Nice try but Big Bro trained me himself." He spins around and slices through my stomach and then follows up with a slash at my arm but that only makes the fight more fun for me.

I haven't told anyone about this but lacking the ability to feel anything makes me relish the sensation of healing. I can feel a small tingling then and I crave it, not that I'd hurt myself but it makes fighting such a fun experience for me. I rush him once more and we meet in a clash of Kagunes. Grins are on both our faces as we try to kill each other. We both jump back to get some breathing room for a second and I ask a question that's been on my lips for a while.

"Why have you only been using that form of your Kagune?" Naki seems to think for a second but shrugs and answers. "Cinder wanted us more controllable I guess. Kanou said you took four times the dosage of sedative as any of us to keep calm." So they lack the adaptability I have but from what I've felt his is tougher than mine. Interesting trade off. Suddenly a pillar of fire erupts from the building and Naki laughs savagely.

"Oh right I forgot to mention, Cinder was visiting today." My heart drops at that, I know Cinder. If she get ahold of my team they'll suffer. I make a move to run for the building but Naki stops me. "Nope, can't have you doing that. Big Brother will be getting some new toys with this." My blood runs cold at the thought of my team at Banesaw's mercies. I need to end this fast, don't need to kill him just disable him. With that in mind I rush at him and focus on his limbs this time. When he swings his Koukaku at me I have all four parts of the Rinkaku wrap around it and pull. It takes a few second but eventually the tendons, muscles, and bones break and the arm comes free. I then quickly cut off the rest of his limbs. It takes me a whole day to recover only one limb let alone four. Stepping over his torso and ignoring his cries of pain I rush towards the building and run in.

The inside of the building is filled with smoke, Fang rush to the exits hoping to escape only to die when they cross my path. I go to where the heat is the highest, it's my best bet to find Cinder and by extension my team. I end up coming across a hallway where the roof collapsed but it's my only way to get to them, I don't have time to take a detour. My Rinkaku starts throwing debris aside but it still takes too long for my taste. By the time I get through about ten minutes have past and the hallway completely collapses behind me. I keep rushing on ahead and choose to ignore the Fang shooting at me as I run on by. Most of the shots don't even puncture my skin anyway.

I barrel through some doors and come upon the area where the fire pillar was. I can't see any sign of humans. I look around and my blood freezes when I see Bloody Mary practically melted on the ground. One of the two parts of Dexterity Shackles is a dozen feet away in a similar condition and my eyes widen when both of Mercury's prosthetics are lying on the ground with the ends melted. Scuff marks on the floor lead to another door and I rush through it and down the hall. My friends are in Cinder's hands. My promise to Neo of a date keeps flashing through my head. Every Fang that gets in my way this time dies, no mercy just splatters on the wall. I can hear a Bullhead taking off, I can see sunlight streaming through the window of the next door.

Bursting through the door I see a Bullhead rising of the ground. I switch to my Ukaku and fire at the Bullhead only for the side to open and Cinder to be seen. She fires flames at the Crystals and they shatter. Our eyes meet and a victorious smirk is on her face while a scowl is on mine. I open a portal above the Bullhead and land on the roof only for a blast of flame to come up through the roof and shoot me off. I can't make head or tails of which way is up or down until I smash into the ground on my back. I try to get up but my body's unresponsive. My spine must have broken, I can only watch as the Bullhead flies off. Eventually I'm able to stand and I head to where JNPR is, they probably left some people alive to interrogate.

I'm proven right when I find them surrounding some Fang who are kneeling on the ground with their hands behind their heads and JNPR pointing weapons at them. Ren notices me first and approaches me. "Where's the rest of team MEAN." I walk past him and grab the first Fang I can get my hands on and drag him up to his feet.

"Where is Banesaw?" Cinder will take them their first, I know it. She'll want to make an example out of them and Banesaw is the perfect way. The Fang sneers at me. "Sorry freak but I can't remember." Wrong answer. My hand pierces his chest and I grasp his heart before ripping it out. Gasps escape from JNPR and fear spreads among the Fang. I toss the corpse aside and glare at the remaining Fang.

"Anyone else having memory problems?" they can't give me the location fast enough. I pull out my scroll and call Ozpin. "Ozpin, Cinder captured my team. Send two Bullhead and a group to sweep the area for anymore Fang. One of those Bullhead I'll need to go to the location I believe they're being taken." Ozpin replies a second later. "Of course, they're actually already on their way. I thought you'd be done by now so I took the liberty of sending them already. Also Jaune, good luck." Thanking Ozpin I shut the scroll and think on what I could do to improve my odds. Then what Naki said about Ghouls comes to me. I rush to his position and find him trying to wiggle away. I pierce him to the ground with my Bikaku.

"So you said we gain extra strength by eating each other right. Well you did eat me so don't you think you should return the favor?"


	5. Chapter 5

**So I hope this chapter makes up for how long it's been since an update as always I own nothing. So the pairing has now been confirmed to be Jaune, Neo, and Ruby. Also Jaune's new weapon makes its debut. I do not own RWBY or Tokyo Ghoul.**

 **Chapter 5- Rescue Op**

 **Jaune's POV**

I finally reached the facility the White Fang members gave the location to. Amazing how much seeing your comrade's heart ripped out can motivate you. My team should be inside; I hope I got here before anything could happened to them. It took me seven hours to reach this place, originally I was on a Bullhead but they wanted to take a longer detour around a storm so I jumped off and spammed the hell out of my semblance to get here. I found a few wolves to eat on the way so I'm good to go.

The Facility is a few warehouses surrounded by a large chain fence. No time for stealth, every second is a second my team could be hurt. They rescued me from the hell Cinder put me through, I can never pay them back for that but this is a good start. Besides I have a partner to take on a date after all this is over.

I open a portal over the facility along with it's connected portal next to me and jump in, worked last time so hopefully it'll work this time. My Ukaku spreads out behind me and crystallizes before showering the ground in crystals. When I land on the ground is coated in blood and bodies that look like pincushions surround me. I find it hilarious how the White Fang tried to make me into a weapon only for it to backfire horribly.

"THERE HE IS! FIRE!" Oh there are more of them, tch this is taking too long. I allow them to empty their clips on me, they lack any bullets that can actually pierce my skin. Once they see the futileness of their actions they start backing up in fear. I crack my fingers and my eye burns signaling the change into the Kakugan. My wings withdraw and switch into the Rinkaku tentacles and portals appear around the Fang with the corresponding one appearing around me. I shoot the Rinkaku through and pierce several Fangs before swinging them around to make the rest mincemeat.

"Throw the grenades now!" I turn to see several gernades coming at me. Thank Oum for stupid people. Another portal set redirects the grenades into a cluster of Fang. I lean back to avoid an arm that comes flying my way after the explosion. Fifty Fang and all they accomplished was getting blood in my hair. I can't tell if that's testament to my growth or their weakness. I'd like to think it's the former.

"Wh..what kind of monster are you." I look down at the Fang lying on the ground in front of me. His legs are just stumps and both arms are riddled with shrapnel. So perhaps not every member of the White Fang knows about Ghouls, not that I care. Everyone who wears that mask is my enemy, the only good Fang is a dead Fang.

"I'm one of your own making." I think back to the experiments and torture I went through; I can practically feel that centipede crawling around in my head. If my team has been changed or hurt, I'll make the deaths even more painful. You can learn a lot about torture when you're the tortured. I place my boot on the downed Fang's head and push down. Eventually the force is enough to crush his skull inward. Removing my foot from his head I wipe brain matter off on his clothes and move towards the largest warehouse, got to start somewhere.

I punch the door inward and walk into a hail of gunfire, I counter with my Rinkaku swinging around deflecting the bullets back at the Fang. They're torn to shreds by their own bullets and the few who don't die immediately are killed by my Rinkaku tearing through them. Blood, organs, and bullet casings litter the floor. One of the things I enjoy about my new species is the better sense of smell. I can find my team by scent alone, even with the metallic blood scent clogging the air. I also need to hurry; I can feel my grasp on sanity slipping. I'm already a few steps from falling into madness and I don't want to become a complete nut job.

The screech of rusted metal opening turns my eyes to some cages in the corner. Several Beowolves that are larger than normal and have bone armor jutting of their spines rush out of the cage. Are these merely older Beowolves or perhaps more of Kanou's experiments? I guess it doesn't matter in the end. They're still just prey to me. The closest swipes at me but I grab the arm and have my Rinkaku cut it off. The Beowolf clutches its stump as I chew on the arm, I can feel my Rc cell supply increasing. I switch back to the Ukaku and shoot the Beowolves full of holes while eating my treat. While I still hate having to eat these things it's better than cannibalism.

Naki was right about Ghoul Cannibalism increasing strength but how he found my flesh delicious I'll never know. He tasted worse than the fake Rc pills Professor Geppetto made for me but I can feel the strength flowing through me. It also feels like I'm closer to falling into the pit of madness, not a side-effect I'm fond of.

With all the threats dead I can see the rest of this place is devoid of life. However, there is a screened off area that I don't like the looks of. My fears are confirmed when I tear the curtain away to see three bloody operating tables. The scents on the tables confirm it was my team on them.

"So what do you think Jaune." My Rinkaku is flared out as I spin around only to see a scroll plopped up on a table with Cinder staring at me. I grab the scroll growl at her.

"Where are they?!" Cinder just smiles at me with that cold smile of hers, a snake would have more warmth then her. She looks at me as though I'm some amusing little pet.

"Oh they're on the complex. The question is if Banesaw has had his fun with them yet. They had better have a healing factor close to yours otherwise they might not recover." The screen starts to crack in my grip. That look on her face, that way she looks down on you, all of it angers me.

"You changed them, turned them into Ghouls. How? I know for a fact I killed Kanou." Cinder smiles at that. As though this is some big joke, the cracks spread.

"And how did you find out that's what we called them, someone coined the term after you ran off." Ran off, she makes it sound like I'm some dog that ran off. "That idiot Naki blabbed about it before I devoured him, NOW ANSWER THE QUESTION!"

"So you performed cannibalism, you're coming along better than I thought you would. And you don't honestly think he was the only one who knew the procedure did you? The only reason I even kept him around as long as I did was for that sedative he created. Sadly, your team are the last Ghouls I can ever produce. As it turns out without the sedative being put in the Shifters first before the transplant the receiver will die 100% of the time. I believe the sedative acted as a bonding agent. We had enough left to ensure your team was changed successfully. You four are probably the most powerful, hopefully you survive this little test." TEST, THIS IS ALL SOME BIG TEST!

"What do you mean test?" Cinder laughs, when I get ahold of her I'll stuff her voice box down her throat. "Oh silly boy, did you actually think you escaped on luck or skill." The air is knocked from my lungs. "No I let you leave, Kanou was a fool. He believed he could improve upon you but I say that struggle and fire in you. Such a valuable weapon shouldn't be kept behind locked door. So I let you leave, put you in a different environment. Do you know why you can use multiple forms for your kagune, if we're being honest I don't know either. I believe it's some part of your will, or perhaps a fluke. Either way I can't wait to see just how far you go. Your little friends are in the building in the back-right corner of the complex. I look forward to seeing you again, assuming you survive." The screen goes black and the scroll breaks in my grip. I rush to the designated building and cut through the dozen or so Fang in my way before bursting through the door.

"MERCURY, EMERALD, NEO!" hanging from the ceiling by chains attached to their wrists and dressed in basic white t-shirts and shorts are my team. They seem relatively fine given the situation.

"I've been waiting for you Jaune." I spin around and send my Rinkaku forward to pierce the bastard. "BANESAW!" Two spiked tentacles emerge from Banesaw and knock away my own.

"I've been looking forward to this, I haven't had any more playmates that have been has fun as you." My mind flashes back to that couple Banesaw killed just to torture me, their lives just ripped away. My hands tighten into fists and I grit my teeth. I could grab my team and run but that would leave this monster here. I can't let anyone else suffer because of this.

"So have I, I've got two months of torture to pay you back for." A deep laugh escapes Banesaw's throat as he starts his chainsaw. "That's the spirit, I promise this time I'll break it." I rush him before sliding underneath his legs into a portal that sends me above him where I spread my wings and launch wave after wave of crystals at him. Credit where it's due he manages to block every one of them with those tentacles of his. I wrap the wings around my arms to form makeshift blades and come down from above at him only for his chainsaw to block them and they shatter. Before I can move that accursed chainsaw catches me in the chest and sends me flying into a wall as well as shredding my chest.

"Come on boy, surely you can do more than that. Hopefully your team will impress me more, I wonder how long it will take me to get Marie Antoinette syndrome to set in on them. I give it a week; I'm amassed it took two weeks for those white locks of yours to show." I push myself out of the wall and run my hand over my bloody chest. How did it do so much damage? When he used it on me before it hurt because I still had a sense of pain but it was flesh wounds at best. He cut right to the bone this time. My skin is patching itself up already and my aura's amplifying the process but that won't help if he bisects me.

"Got to admit, that Cinder bitch had a good idea. Replacing the blade with this Kagune infused one was brilliant." That explains it, plus it provides me with a laugh.

"Oh that's funny, I'm not the only one that had that idea." Banesaw is shocked at that. I chuckle, finally he shuts up. I look back on my team and notice they haven't stirred yet. They must still have a ton of that sedative in them. At least I can fight without worrying about them, Banesaw lacks a ranged attack so I can prevent any damage from occurring to them.

"I thought it'd be useful so a friend helped me make a weapon." I reach into my jacket's pocket and pull out a collapsible self-defense stick made of black metal with a glass base. I then flick it out to reveal the next six inches, each part being thinner than the last. I'm thankful Ruby brought it with her when she came with the other Bullheads. While this isn't the field test I wanted it will do. Of course a weapon isn't all that I got from Ruby.

 _Flashback_

" _Jaune!" I turn back to see Ruby running out of the other Bullhead with a box in her hand and Crescent Rose on her hip. "Jaune I finished your weapon." She opens the box to reveal a cylinder of black metal. I pull it out and flick my wrist to reveal the rest of it._

" _Looks great Ruby, how's the extra feature work?" Ruby pushes an indention near the base of the cylinder and spike pop out along the collapsible part of the weapon. They both tear and prevent the weapon from collapsing back into its base mode during battle. It also has a telescope built in to allow me a longer range for my semblance._

" _I'm amassed you figure out how to fuse my Kagune into the metal so quickly, you truly are a genius Ruby." This is also helping me calm down some. I want to go already but the crew of this flying hunk of metal want to double check everything. I noticed there barely concealed sneers though, they view me as a beast and my team as scum. They'll drag this out as long as possible. I collapse my weapon and stick it in my pocket._

" _So did you make that new blade yet." Ruby nods and expands Crescent Rose to reveal a new blade the same color as my new weapon. I start tapping my foot and grit my teeth as the crew's "check-up" drags on. Every second spent is another second my team could be hurt._

" _Jaune they'll be fine. After all they have you coming after them." I smile at Ruby, the one and only pre-ghoul friend I can count on. I look over to see WBY with NPR leading the surviving Fang over to a Bullhead. They keep switching their stares between the corpse of the Fang whose heart I tore out and me. Take a good long look you guys. Hopefully it sinks in that the moment you believed I could hurt Ruby, let alone when you tried to kill me, that our friendship ended._

" _Thanks for that Ruby." I notice the crew is finally done and I get ready to head out. Before I can however Ruby grabs my collar and pulls me down into a kiss. It's short but I can taste cookie dough and strawberry._

" _You had better come back Jaune." Before I can respond rose petals are in the air and Ruby has run off._

 _Flashback end_

Don't worry Ruby I will. Now then time to settle this. I rush at Banesaw and duck under one of his blows while my Rinkaku blocks his own. Sliding around him I hook some spikes in the back of his left knee and pull. That's the purpose of this weapon, to tear the soft parts of my opponents right out. The leg is practically torn in half and retracting the spike for a second removes the flesh hanging on. Banesaw is down on one knee and I swing at his face. Ripping away the mask and the left side of his face.

"You bastard, I'LL KILL YOU!" Banesaw's kagune wraps around the top half of his head and his right arm which is holding the chainsaw locking it into place. What kind of kagune is this? I don't even get time to think before he's in front of me piercing me with his chainsaw before throwing me into a wall again. His uncovered hand then wraps around my head and slams me into the ground before throwing me to the other side of the room. If I could still feel pain, I'd be in a world of hurt.

"ONCE I'M DONE WITH YOU I'LL EAT THOSE TRAITORS ALIVE, I'LL SWALLOW THAT MIDGET WHOLE! KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU DEAD!" He's crazier than I am. Damn it, I can barely stand up. I failed my team, failed Ruby, failed myself. I'm sorry for letting you all down but I lost.

"So is that the farthest you can go." I open my eyes and see that everything is white. In front of me is … me? My old blond hair adorns his head along with my old outfit but his eyes are both Kakugans. "How pathetic. Are you really just going to give in like that? If you die here your team dies, Banesaw will eat them and grow even stronger. More people will suffer under his sadistic urges" The blank white area changes to show that exact thing happening. I'm forced to watch and listen as Banesaw devours Emerald, then Mercury, and finally Neo.

"Ruby and Hinami will be broken; Ruby has already lost you once, and because of people she trusted at that, while Hinami will lose her second chance at a family. They'll either waste away or die in whatever Cinder is planning." Now the scene depicts an empty-eyed Ruby just sitting in a corner holding on to an equally hollow-eyed Hinami, her mouse ears drooping so low they're barely visible in her hair. Both are skeletal and pale. Then Cinder appears and immolates them. They don't even cry out and soon they're ashes in the wind.

"And Beacon, the place you consider home, do you think Cinder will let it stand? She'll burn it to the ground." We're now in a replica of Beacon, watching it burn. Grimm and White Fang run amok killing students and faculty. I can't allow this to happen. I stare my opposite in the eye as he smirks.

"So you still got some fight in you. That's good, does that mean you'll let me go free." This guy must be my ghoul half, or at least part of it that I subconsciously reject. If that's the case.

"Squelch"

My arm is encased my doppelganger's chest. I pull it lose and when he stumbles back I pin him to the ground. "No I'm never letting you go free. I'll carve my own path." He looks up at me with an unreadable expression.

"And what if you chose the wrong path, one that leads to those you hold dear dying?" I feel my eye change into its Kakugan mode.

"That won't happen, not as long as I draw breath. I'll take your strength and make it my own so that never happens." I then start to rip into the fake and devour him.

"That's right, to live is to devour others. Now go and save those friends of yours." I stand up and then suddenly I'm right back where I started with Banesaw rushing towards me, so really was all in my head.

Banesaw rushes me with his right arm acting like a spear with his chainsaw spinning away. I can't win this fight, not like this. I take a deep breath and surrender to madness. I finally understand; I can't fight this insanity that's taken root in my mind, WBY's and NPR's betrayal, Kanou's experiments, and Banesaw's torture have left too many physical and mental scars. Nor can I control it, I can merely direct it. I can feel the crazed smile spread across my lips. A portal opens in front of Banesaw's arm and it's opposite open behind him causing him to stab himself in the back. The portals then close cutting off the arm.

"Come on is that all you've got Saw. Come on surely you have more than that." I hop up and aim an ax kick at his head only for his remaining arm to grab my leg. Like that can stop me. I spin around ignoring my leg tearing itself to pieces and land a kick to his face which pushes him back. By the time I land on the ground my leg has already healed

"After everything you put me through, do you honestly think that would hurt. HAHAHAHA!" I love this, the blood, my opponent's cries of agony as I tear into him. I crack my knuckles and pierce Banesaw with my kagune over and over.

"How about one of your old favorites, what's 1000 minus 7." Another stab with my Kagune, followed by another, and another, and another. All in all, it takes ten more strikes before he finally answers.

"993…" another stab "986" another "979" another "972" I grab him by the head and give him a big grin. "You were going to kill me and my friends, so you have no right to complain when I eat you." I toss him into the air and retract my Rinkaku before forming my King Taijitu Bikaku. I then send it up and it swallows him whole. It then spins around and twists to crush him into a fine paste inside of it before I retract it. What was left of Banesaw's clothes being shot out before it's fully retracted.

"Heh, remind me to never make you mad." I look to see Mercury is awake now. I rush over while pushing the madness back down and cut the chains holding him up before catching him and laying him on the ground.

"Oh my legs are killing me." I look at his legs and see they're growing back, slowly but surely. I point this out to him and he chuckles. "Perhaps something good came out of this after all." I nod and then cut down the girls before setting Emerald next to Mercury and sitting down with Neo in my lap. Drinking in the fact they're okay. I send a message to Ozpin telling him I retrieved the rest of MEAN. I then settle down after tossing Mercury two Rc pills which he chokes down. With that there is no doubt the three of them are Ghouls, another thing to add to my list of reasons to hate Cinder. Suddenly a unfamiliar voice speaks up.

"J..jau..ne?" who said that? I look around only to feel a small hand tug on my shirt. I look down to see Neo staring up at me when it clicks.

"Neo... did you just talk?!" She nods and I give her a small smile. So two good things came out of this. Mercury will regain his legs while Neo can talk again, somewhat at least. Now to deal with that ball of emotions Ruby caused.

"Neo, Ruby kissed me before I came here. I want to assure you tha.. mmh." I'm cut off when Neo reaches up and cover my mouth with her hand. To my surprise she's smiling.

"Ab..out ti..me." I'm sorry what. Neo, the girl that nearly gutted a passerby on the street that stared at me too long for her taste is fine with Ruby kissing me. My mind flashes back to that private chat the two of them had. Seeing the look on my face Neo grins.

"W…we'll sh…are." I can feel blood rush to my cheeks. Mercury laughs at me but I chuck a chunk of rock at him.

"Oww, injured man over here." I scowl at him. "Oh man up, I just got pierced straight through with a chainsaw and you don't see me complaining." Come to think of it where did that chainsaw land. I think I'll use it myself, the thought of cutting down White Fang using one of their members own weapon against them. I'm dragged out of my thoughts when Mercury throws the rock back at me while Emerald laughs at him and Neo leans into me. I suppose this is a pretty good ending, all things considered. I feared I'd have to dig graves. Between them being dead and being Ghouls I'll take the latter any time.

Cinder, you had better pray I never get my hands on you. I don't know why you would want a being that feeds on Grimm ever created and truly I don't care. I refuse to allow some pyromaniac with a god complex to burn the world down and rebuild it from the ashes in her image. I swear on my life here and now.

I will end you.

 **So does that make up for the long wait? And Nexus Bladeguard you were right about Devour, I thought it suited this story as well.**


End file.
